Friday, April 3, 2009

It's getting to be that time again. You know, time to get the dye out. No not to dye your hair!

I'm talking about the Easter Egg dye!

When I was a kid I loved to dye Easter Eggs. Oh the pretty colors! Leaving the egg in the dye to make it even darker, having that clear crayon to write your name on.

Or, if you wanted to get real fancy, you would dip half the egg in one color and then the other side in a different color!

I remember, that at least for a week before Easter, that box of PAAS Easter Egg Dye would be sitting on the counter just waiting for the right time when my mom would say "It's time to dye the Easter Eggs"!

We would get out the cups, put the little tablet of dye in. Then we would add water and vinegar and wait for the tablet to dissolve. Being impatient, we would stir it and stir it hoping that would make it get ready faster so we could get on with the fun of dipping those eggs.

Oh the simple joy of dying eggs. But that was years ago.

Now you can go crazy with your Easter Eggs.

Have you seen some of the new ways of dying eggs? My gosh! They look like expensive pieces of art work.

It's no longer just plain colors, a simple name or even the fancy two toned eggs.

It must take forever to dye Easter Eggs any more.

You can use stickers. Special instruments to draw with melted wax are also being used.

Though you can still dye your eggs pretty fast by just slipping on some rubber bands and then dipping the eggs in the dye. When they dry you take off the rubber bands and you have these cool stripes.

These eggs are beautiful! They have been dyed with the newest trick to dying your eggs. Have you seen these? If not, you will be shocked at how they do these.

You use silk ties, scarfs or even pieces of an old silk blouse. Yes you heard me right. You use silk material to dye these lovely eggs.

How you ask? Well, you wrap your uncooked egg in the silk material and then put a piece of white cotton material over that. You can even use old white t shirts for that part. Tie the material at the top and put the wrapped egg in a pot of water that you have added dye to. Boil it until the eggs are done and let cool while sitting in the pot of water. Unwrap and you will have your masterpiece.

Look at these. Don't they look like planets from outer space? I love them.

Oh, I have done these before... by mistake.

You take your hard boiled egg and crack the shell all over. Don't remove the shell though. First dip it in the dye (make sure you are using dye that is OK to eat).

After the egg is dried, peel the shell away and you will have an egg that looks like this. Yes it's the egg that is dyed. The dye seeps though the broken shell and dyes the white of the egg.

Now these eggs are something that can only be made by someone with a lot of time on their hands.

They are made with painting on the design with melted wax. Let the wax dry and then dip the egg in the lightest color you are going to use. Remove the egg, let dry, remove the wax and then draw more of the design on the egg. Repeat this over and over. Each time you dip the egg in a darker color.

These are wonderful but really...who would take the time to do these?

These brightly colored ones are done by dying the eggs just like we did...in the olden days. Just plain, one color dyed eggs.

But to jazz it up you can paint on the design with acrylic paint after the dyed egg has dried.

These eggs are all hand painted. So really, you can't call them dyed eggs. They are painted eggs.

Last we have these little jewels! Nope they are not painted or dyed. They have a plastic sleeve made just for eggs put over them and then you boil the egg and plastic shrinks to fit the egg.

I do remember towards the end of my egg dying days we did have these available to us.

I'm not really one who dyes Easter Eggs any more. But, my sisters like to dye them with Trinity.

So I'm sure, this year, I will once again see the PAAS box sitting on our counter waiting for just the right time to dye the eggs into beautiful masterpieces that only a child can create.

I hope they make me one. Maybe a really fancy one. One that is pink on one side and blue on the other. Then maybe, just maybe it will even have my name written on it with that magic clear crayon.

14 comments:

Oh, my goodness I can not believe how gorgeous all of these eggs are!!! The silk ones are fabulous! Give an egg to a crafter and they will make works of art! Thank you for sharing these with me. I will TRY to make at least a dozen with my grand daughters, PAAS, tk u...Happy Easter & I loved this blog! Sharon

Oh my God I don't think I have ever seen such beautiful eggs before! I really had no idea you could do that much with them? The last time i dyed eggs was a few years ago when I made an italian egg braid. It is made with anisette flavoring and the dyed eggs sit inside the braid. You dye the eggs raw...set them into the braided bread and them bake along with the bread. When done, you glaze the top and cover with non-pareils...it's great! Thanks for taking the time to share all those beautiful eggs!:)

These eggs are stunning! The most creative I ever got with eggs was coloring on them with crayons before they went into the dye. It seems like a lot of work, not to mention all the egg salad you'd have to eat if you went crazy making eggs. They are beautiful though!

What a beautiful post! I love all the new gorgeous eggs of today. I also loved the smell of vinegar and the dipping and drying of years ago! What fun we had with just the simple stuff. I have a beautiful collection of Ukranian Pysanky eggs that were made by my dear friend Cindy. Absolutely gorgeous! I should dig them out of storage and try to post them before Easter.

Hi Joanne, it's Connie with the "aprons"! I haven't sold any for quite a while, but I'm making some more and might. I want to "froufrou" up my favorite one as it's getting rather "odd" looking with the food and paint stains on it, but when I make one I'll show it to the world, chickee!

But your eggs?!?!?!? Those are all astounding, honey. You've given me an idea for eggs now. Hah........

xoxo,Connie

I must admit I lurk a lot but time being what it is I don't always comment. I'll repent and do it now. Sorrrrrryyyyy, sweetpea!

My girls used to love dying eggs when they were little and I used to dye eggs when visiting my grandparents when I was a young girl. Such great memories of Easter egg hunts at Grandma's house. I love those eggs dyed with silk ties. I had seen that somewhere else recently. I will have to add that to my list of things to do for next year and scout out Goodwill for silk ties. Beautiful post. Love & blessings from NC!

I really enjoyed seeing the various ways to decorate Easter eggs! My favorite is with the PAAS kit because it brings back memories...just like it did for you.Once my Mom and I did the flower wrapped around the egg with the cheesecloth. It worked nicely and the yellow color of the flower was like dye on the egg. Neat!

Your post reminds me that I need to buy white eggs, I have brown ones now and they won't work. Who knew that there were so many ways to color eggs. They are all so beautiful. I messed up my previous post really bad, I'm trying to get used to a new keyboard.........Sorry!

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